Book
Publishing Service
People from the presses participating in the CCBC
workshop and in the ETN program were committed to communicating
a point of view, particular information, or certain ideas to
children through books. Each expressed, in one way or another,
that their values and/or philosophies were either minimized or
not represented in books published for children by standard
publishers. Each alternative press sought ways to make certain
that these principles and philosophies might be available to
children and adults, and found independent book publishing
service was one means of communication.
- Kids Can Press and Lollipop Power began as
collectives of women interested in publishing nonsexist
books for children. Lollipop Power remains collectively run
and is currently publishing books which ''emphasize a wide
variety of choices upon which young children may build
their images of themselves and the world." In recent years.
Kids Can Press has been more concerned with the development
of children's literature indigenous to Canada. The books
drawn from Canadian culture and history now published by
Kids Can Press still reflect its original commitment to the
publication of nonsexist. multicultural children's
books.
- Harriet Rohmer a representative of Children's
Book publishing sevrice / Imprenta de Li-bros Infantiles.
was concerned about the lack of children's stories for
non-white American children. After writing a few stories
for her son's New York City day-care center, she founded
the press. Initially, the press published only mythical
legends in Spanish and English, but eventually was expanded
to publish legends and contemporary stories in Filipino.
Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese, and English. These
multilingual books now form a series of what are called
Fifth World Tales, stories with bilingual texts illustrated
in full color.
The handset, letterpress books
published by Toothpaste Press Book Publishing Service exemplify
its commitment to fine bookmaking. Toothpaste Press controls
all aspects of bookmaking, from editorial decisions to the
printing itself, for the poetry and other literature it
publishes. This commitment to maintaining almost complete
artistic control over a manuscript was shared by the other two
presses involved in the programs. Metis Press and Rocking Horse
Press.
During discussion in both the workshop and the
Educational Telephone Network program, distribution was
identified as the most difficult and crucial aspect of
publishing by the small press representatives; they had
originally considered the business aspects of publishing as
secondary concerns, only to discover that promotion and
distribution were as important as, or more so than, the
production of the book itself to the survival/success of
the press. At present, these particular publishing
service rely heavily on direct mailing of their
catalogs and on word-of-mouth as a means of publicity.
Limited staff and funds curtail conventional methods of
children's book promotion such as purchasing advertising
space in professional journals, direct mailings, conference
exhibits, and sending review copies to several hundred key
people or places.
All participating publishers expressed an interest in
libraries as a market. Yet, very few of their titles had been
cited in the review sections of professional library journals.
The reasons for this lack of reviews are varied and not
necessarily clear-cut. Some publishers were unaware of review
media outside of newspapers and popular magazines. Others knew
about professional library review media but not about their
editorial policies, deadlines, and procedures. Still others
found their books excluded because of journal policies defining
scope. All recognized reviews published in library media as a
primary aspect of visibility which might get their books into
libraries and subsequently into the hands of adults and
children.
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